Ambilight TV 4K HDR Philips 43PUS6401 with DVB T/C/T2/T2-HD/S/S2 tuner

The Philips 43PUS6401 doesn’t carry the UHD Premium badge the Samsung does, not least because it has a maximum
brightness of only 350 nits -a UHD Premium set needs at least 1000 nits-.
HDR is still technically possible on this set, but you’ll need to make sure you have the most recent firmware update.
Once you do, the PUS6401 will recognise an HDR source automatically and tweak its settings to suit, though annoyingly
Philips TVs still don’t support HDR on Netflix or Amazon content.

Philips 43PUS6401 have two-sided Ambilight, shining a little added light on proceedings. It’s easily toggled on or off from a dedicated menu button, but we enjoy it when watching movies (setting it to follow the on-screen picture works best for us). The solid white light option also proves handy for softer bias lighting, which is particularly useful because we find the PUS6401’s
panel to be quite reflective.Philips unique Ambilight technology makes your screen much wider—and your viewing experience more immersive—by emitting an extra wide glow from two-sides of your TV screen onto the surrounding wall.

Connectivity wise you’re fairly well covered, with four HDMIs (two support HDCP2.2), three USBs and single
component and analogue ins. There’s even a SCART for older connections and a single optical out for outputting your
TVs sound to a soundbar.

There’s wi-fi or ethernet for hooking up to your home network, and once you’re online, you’ll be able to access the
TV’s on-board Android TV system. It’s not our favourite user-interface by a long shot , but it is slowly improving.
With apps for Netflix and Amazon, it ticks many boxes. The ability to cast from portable devices helps, but Android
TV is still behind its rivals when it comes to choice.
Once set up, the Philips’ lack of brightness  is noticeable in its more subdued picture performance and colour palette.
On the whole, colours lack the same level of accuracy, with reds looking a touch orangey while blues and greens  are overly bold. It’s not unexpected at this level, but something we weren’t able to balance out with the regular settings.
Philips Quad Core processor meets the power of Android to deliver an exciting gaming experience. And with Android on your TV you’ll navigate, launch apps and play videos in a way that is super fast, super intuitive and super fun.

HDR pictures lack the punch in colour and brightness to really get the usual benefits of the technology across. You’ll
see a touch more subtlety and sparkle in highlights compared with regular SDR content, but it isn’t capable of hitting  home with the same intensity.It’s in dark scenes where the picture is most lacking, with the set not capable of deep enough blacks, nor shadow detail,to give a murky scene much impact.
Watching in a darkened room helps, but emphasises the rather poor backlight uniformity that can become noticeable
in darker scenes. The set ultimately lacks a good grip on contrast – introduce a bright element to a dark scene and it will
struggle to balance out the two. And outlines could be better etched.With no motion processing employed,fast-moving pans look a little unnatural.Setting the Philips Natural Motion settings to minimum helps.4K Blu-ray pictures will benefit the most from the capabilities of this set, but it struggles with darker scenes and, even with its price tag in mind, the overall lack of brightness takes the sparkle off a little.Compromise is the word here, and  there’s plenty of those to be made with this set. You may find saving up a touch more means fewer compromises where it really matters.
source:Philips  What hi-fi